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Friday, November 14, 2008

Things that have been on my mind.

Do you have Google Alerts set up for your blog? I have them set up to email me when anyone links to either this blog or We'd Rather Read. The alerts are emailed to me, and then sorted into a folder (well, label, it's gmail) and skip the inbox entirely. This is a nice little system unless... you don't check that folder! I just discovered 30 email in it. Granted, half those were from myself linking back to the other blog, but some of them were good posts that mentioned me and I FAILED TO NOTICE!! Now what? Do I go to these old posts and say, "um, hi. I see you very nicely linked to me TWO MONTHS AGO"? Do I ignore it? Do I go comment on their blogs? Some of them are regulars so I'm not so worried, but a couple were new to me blogs!

Second, I managed to get my Google Reader down to 425 today. I suspect that with the number of blogs I am subscribed to that I will never have it under control again. I need to unsubscribe from a few, I think.

Third, I have a group blog at We'd Rather Read. The idea was that some friends and I would get together and blog about reading. The project pretty much flopped. Any suggestions on how to incorporate it into Books. Lists. Life.? Or would you just leave it there?

Fourth, we think the Pirate has picked up some bad language. It's kinda hard to tell, as he will not repeat it if he thinks he's in trouble. The particular things he is saying aren't things we say. Don't misunderstand, we do have some bad language ourselves, but not the particular things he has said. What do we do? How do we figure out how he learned these things?

Fifth, the Bug. He is cute.













16 comments:

  1. The Bug is a cutie. My best advice on the bad language is to ignore it. Our son is 21 and he picked up s*&t from my mother-in-law. I tried everything - talking to him, punishing him, etc, and the only thing that worked was ignoring it. He eventually outgrew, but not before embarrassing us a few times, but hey, anyone with kids understands.

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  2. Well, hmmm, I don't know anything at all about Google Alerts -- how to set them up or anything -- but I'm occasionally missing it when someone tags me or leaves a comment mentioning my blog, so could ya teach me?

    Ms. Onion is right -- less reaction means less thrill and it'll eventually go away. But, you'll have those red-cheek moments.

    As to the Google Reader backlog, I have some advice -- delete. Mark everything as read and start over. This month, a lot of people are doing NaBloPoMo and it's hard enough to keep up with all the book posts. The filler posts make it even harder. Nobody will be hurt if you start from scratch. If you feel like you must visit a few favorites or read them, go ahead. But, it really helps to just clear the files.

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  3. I think it embarrasses my husband more than it does me, but perhaps we'll try to ignore it.

    Bookfool, you go to http://www.google.com/alerts
    and then in the search terms put:
    "link:bookfoolery.blogspot.com" without the " ". Somehow it knows not to send you your own posts. Then it sends it to your gmail account and you can set up a filter for it if you want. I obviously shouldn't cause then I miss them!

    I might mark read my reader. We'll see how it looks on Sunday night.

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  4. I haven't experimented with Google Alerts but I would just casually visit those blogs and post a comment or two. You may like what you find there and meet some new folks.

    I would keep your other blog separate from this one. Books Lists Life is just that, why tamper with perfection?

    Bug is very, very cute. I love babies in their little footed jammies.

    As for the cussing.. I agree with Onion.. ignore it. The novelty will wear off. Wonder where he heard it from though. My daughter still has a problem with some letters so for a long time she would scream "Fire F*ck" whenever she saw a Fire Truck..which was often. Whenever I reacted to it, I noticed she would give me that look and then try to say it again.

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  5. That just reminded me to set up Google Alerts. I'm so behind in some of the "blog world" stuff. I finally got all the tags on my posts figured out. I think.

    I guess check out some. If you want/need to post a comment do so. If not, just delete and move on. No pressure!! This is supposed to be fun :)

    Your bug is too cute. Love the smile.

    I have no clue about the cussing as I don't have children. I don't suggest doing what my mom did. I don't know where I learned the F-word but I was doing paint by water and I messed up and said it. I was dragged off my chair and promptly spanked. I had no clue what I did. Good luck!

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  6. 1. Google Alerts? What? I guess its appropriate that you are introducing me to this since you introduced me to google reader. I think a "hi" is nice, but I've noticed through google analytics that I have a few "stalkers." I sometimes visit their sites and leave comments, but they never leave comments even though they pop by several times a week. Weird, huh??

    2. Mark All Read. I'm compulsive about this (although I only subscribe to 60 or so blogs), but I've had to learn that I can't read and comment on EVERY post. I have my favorites in my little favorites folder and try to be better about those ones, but just mark them all read. You'll feel better about it--maybe not right away, but you will. :P

    3. I used to subscribe to this blog but unsubscribed several months ago because you crossposted your reviews and there wasn't much going on anyway. Great idea though...

    4. Oops! LOL...no idea. I can still remember my sister saying when she was little little "Shut up is a bad word, it is!" We still joke about it. She was so proud that she could list all of the bad words (I'm sure there were a few she didn't know then). I guess if you ignore it, it doesn't encourage him? I'm not a parent...

    5. Bug is TOOOOO cute!

    Sorry for the novel. :) I'm feeling really rambly today...

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  7. I'm going to try that Google Alerts thing too! Thanks for the little lesson. :)

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  8. Thank you, Lisa!!! I'll give that a try, tonight. :)

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  9. What a cute little bug. I had no idea that there is a separate folder that google alerts go into...how does that work??!

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  10. serena, I just set up a filter to label anything that has the words "google alert" with the label "google alert" and then skip the inbox (archive it). Then it shows up in my label list as bolded for unread. I do this with lots of things, like books I get from www.dailylit.com. Each book has it's label, then skips the inbox.

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  11. I love that picture of the bug. You know I don't know anything about Google Alerts, but I would think that it would be appropriate to pop over and thank them...even if it was a little late in coming. I am sorry that I haven't been better with my reviewing. Shame on Gina. However, with my own blog picking up the pace, I would suspect that I may be better at it soon. :)

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  12. Google reader is great, but it also becomes the bane of my existence when it gets up into the 400s and above. I cleared out all the unread posts yesterday and started over. I was overwhelmed!

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  13. Huh, I didn't know Google Alerts would do that. I think if you'd like to contact that person, they'd still like to hear from you. :)

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  14. PS That's cool you've been linked!

    PPS The Bug couldn't be any cuter!

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  15. I use Google Alert too, both for my blog name and my nickname. I felt really silly doing it at first, but I've discovered a few new blogs that way. :-) I really should set up a folder for those--thanks for the idea!

    I'm with Trish. Sometimes when I get way behind with my Google Reader messages, I delete most, reading only certain ones. I always feel terrible about it at first, but then the relief settles in at not having to stare at such a long list of blogs to visit. I do try to stay on top of the blogs though--unfortunately something called life can get in the way. I'm sure you can relate. :-)

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  16. Well, I got the reader down in the 200s. It's progress, anyway.

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